People with Strongyloidiasis have the worms until they die,
unless they receive effective treatment. The worm may persist for 40 years or more in the small intestine, and it can also be spread as a sexually transmitted disease.

Stronglyoidiasis is fairly common in America, however it is not often diagnosed because, if chronic, the symptoms are mostly mild or mistaken for some other disease process. In a great many instances,
people found infested with strongyloides have usually been infested
for years, even decades before being diagnosed and treated.

An infection of strongyloides
can be difficult to eradicate completely mainly because of the specialized
ability of these worms to autoinfect their host.

Strongyloides are unique and
dangerous because of the following specialized characteristic features they
employ:

1.Autoinfection: This is an important
characteristic feature of this worms life cycle. Upon penetrating the intestinal wall or skin around the anus, the
larvae enter the bloodstream and reach the pulmonary circulation.

They then penetrate into the lung tissue’s membrane so that
they may do one of two things:

a)Become airborne to infect others.

b)Travel up the bronchial tree, causing irritation, which in
turn causes the infected person to cough thus allowing for the larva to be swallowed
into the gastrointestinal tract to begin the infection process all over again.

2.Hyper-infection: The hyper-infection syndrome happens when there is an enormous
multiplication and migration of infective larvae. This especially happens to a
person that is in an immunosuppressed state, such as patients that are on long-term corticosteroids.

Symptoms include mainly asthma-like complaints such as cough
and wheezing, along with possible pneumonia and pulmonary hemorrhage.

Rare conditions like eosinophilic pleural effusions and eosinophilic granulomatous enterocolitis have also been reported in strongyloidiasis.

One factor that has been attributed to thesesudden parasite
population explosions is the chronic use of immunosuppressive drugs like, systemic
corticosteroids (cortisol, hydrocortisone), organ transplants and other
infections such as kala-azar.

3.Disseminated Infection: In patients that are taking immunosuppressant drugs
such as exogenous cortisol (hydrocortisone), Fatal Disseminated Infections are known to
occur.

In patients that are malnourished or have
been victims of chronic infections, there is an 87% chance of death with this infection.

The high mortality rate associated with
hyper-infection syndrome and disseminated diseases are frequently due to a
secondary bacterial infection.

Corticosteroids and Strongyloidiasis

Multiple case reports indicate a potentialincrease in the frequency of fatal hyper-infection or disseminated infection
with corticosteroid therapy in patients with asymptomatic or mild
strongyloidiasis.

Corticosteroids have been shown to affect a
patients immunity by increasing the apoptosis (programed cell death) of immune
system Th2 cells, reducing the eosinophil count and inhibiting the mast cell
response which leads to hyperinfection or disseminated infection.

It is also believed that corticosteroid therapy increases
ecdysteroid like substances (these are naturally occurring sterols with non-hormonal
anabolic effects) in the body, mainly in the intestinal wall.

Unfortunately, when these steroids are in
the presence of the stronglyoides worm they produce substances that act as a molting (reproduction)
signal to the larvae, which leads to hyperinfection and disseminated infections.

Research conducted by Siddiqui et al., has
found that there are corticosteroid receptors on Strongyloides. These
receptors could also play a role in hyperinfection syndrome along with the systemic
disseminated infection associated with corticosteroids.

Conclusion

Strongyloidiasis is a nematode infection
with a tendency tobecome chronic with fatal complications of hyperinfection
syndrome and disseminated infection along with a host of other potential
complications like gram-negative bacteremia and meningitis.

Due to the fact that most cases of
hyperinfection syndrome and disseminated strongyloidiasis happen in immuno-compromised
individuals, especially those who are taking systemic corticosteroids, like hydrocortisone,
physicians should be aware of the bizarre manifestations of the disease that
can mimic other diseases leading to misdiagnosis and medical errors.

If you or someone you know are infected
with the Strongyloides nematode and are taking corticosteroides (hydrocortisone, ect. ), it is
imperative that you speak to your physician at once and ask that they
review the facts associated with Strongyloidiasis and hydrocortisone therapy.

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About Dr. Walter K. Crooks

Dr. Walter K. Crooks has revolutionized healthcare with his style of treatment for chronic disease.

This
exciting treatment program that incorporates the best of what we now
know about the brain and its influence on the body. and Along with the
sensory input from our interaction with the environment it has a
powerful and lasting consequence for the brain.

Utilizing his
knowledge of the metabolic systems of the human body Dr. Walter K.
Crooks has done what many have said could never be done-- treat chronic
disease without drugs or surgery and get real, long lasting results.